New MO keeping 2TB HDD

[Mamasan]

I'm upgrading my pc with aASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard, Intel Core i3-2120 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000, new pwer supply, G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3,Radeon HD 6770 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card and new case. I'm keeping my year old 2TB HDD, year old cd/dvd burner and Windows 7 OS OEM.

I've got an external HD for backups, so do I need to wipe my 2TB with Dban or some such or just reformatt it by changing the boot order and start with the Windows cd?

Thanks all

 

[MauveCloud]

Purging your drive, with dban or other software, is only worthwhile when you're getting rid of the drive (whether by selling it or by giving it to electronics recycling). If you're just reinstalling Windows because of changes to other hardware, a "quick format" should be sufficient.

 

[trnddwn33]

You should be fine just booting off the windows CD and deleting all the current partitions and installing from scratch.

You could probably make it work without doing a reinstall, but that is generally a pain in the ass and causes you more problems than it is worth. Switching drivers for everything tends to cause trouble.

 

[Mamasan]

That's what I was thinking to. I've had to use Dban when I caught a nasty virus and couldn't get rid of it no matter what I tried. I wish I was as good as my nephew who could be a dirty hacker if he wanted to. He was able to trace and send a trojan or virus right back to the hacker who was messing with him.

Will I have any problems with Windows being reinstalled on the new MO? Some forums have said yes, and I'll have to beg for a new key and other sites have said there'll be no problem. It's not as if I'm going to let someone else install Windows on their pc also, and I'm upgrading my pc not ending up with 2.

 

[MauveCloud]

With an OEM license, you might have to call Microsoft for a new key. I did that a number of times with Windows XP, and never had much trouble convincing them it was just a hardware upgrade and not a 2nd computer. However, with newer versions of Windows, I've made sure to buy the retail edition so I wouldn't have to deal with that. It's been a few years, though, so if they've changed their policies regarding OEM editions or for newer versions of Windows, I wouldn't know about it.

 

[Mamasan]

All of you, thank you. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the OS.

 

[Mamasan]

Best answer selected by Mamasan.